The Flaming Herald | Bert Farias

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Hi! My name is Bert Farias. I’m a son of first generation Portuguese immigrants. I was raised as a devout Roman Catholic, very learned in all the Catholic sacraments, traditions, and prayers. I was thoroughly converted at 22 years of age when JESUS became real to me. I left everything to follow Him.

“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8).

In the above scripture and letter to the Colossian church Paul is writing to them of the inward life, encouraging them in the Christ life they had received — to walk in Him, and to be rooted and built up in Him. He is warning us of philosophies and empty deceits, based on traditions of men, and the basic principles of the world that speak to us of humanistic things, mystical things, and outward things that are without real eternal substance.

Christmas time is a great example of how Christ has been brought down to a superficial man-made and mystical level by the traditions of men.

Much like today and throughout the centuries of time, Christianity can too easily slip into an outward-ness, a mere form of the power that it was meant to reflect and transmit through Christ. “Don’t be cheated”, Paul says, from the simplicity and completeness of the inward Christ life. There are many things that seek to rob, steal, and plunder our love, affection, and holy intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and none more evident than this time of year. Christmas trees, stockings, and mistletoes, Santa Claus, and his reindeers, jingle bells and the one horse open sleigh tend to nurture warm fuzzy feelings that make us happy but hide the life altering revelation of the Holy One.

It is not just the philosophies and empty deceits, included within them these human traditions of Christmas we need to beware of, but there are even good and acceptable things, which while having their proper place in the Christian life, have a tendency to cheat us from the real person and mind of Christ. For the true Christ-professing Christian, such things as buildings, budgets, programs, projects, meetings, committees, or other things that concern the church system apart from the mind of Christ, have the potential to dry up the real heart of the Christ life. Often it’s these very things that rob us of the hallowing intimacy which we are to experience with the Lord. These things although useful, must be kept in their proper perspective lest they dilute the vision of Jesus Himself.

When Christ was born, a hellish opposition immediately arose to attempt to kill and destroy Him (Mt. 2:13, 16). Likewise when the corporate counterpart of the Christ, the Man-child Company is brought forth near the end of this age (Rev. 12) there will be yet another most violent release of hellish opposition. “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).

Everything of this world order is in direct opposition to the Christ being revealed personally in reality and power.

The return of the Lord will once again signal the removal of all that is earthly, temporal, and of man, so that only the eternal order of Jesus Christ and His kingdom remains. In the millennial reign of Christ on the earth I don’t believe we will be celebrating Christmas for He will be personally among us in reality and in power.

When Christ returns He is coming for the formation of Christ in us. It is Him in us that He will recognize. His words, “I never knew you,” and “I don’t know you” were spoken to so-called ministers and foolish virgins who were supposedly doing the work of God and who laid claim to His name (Mt. 7:23) (Mt. 25:12), but somehow the Christ was not found in them. Somehow their form of Christianity had replaced Christ Himself. Beware of the forms and festivities that hide Him from us.

So once again the question beckons us: How much of Christ is in your Christianity? Do you know Him or are all the Christmas traditions blocking your view?

This Christmas series contains modified excerpts from my book, The Real Jesus. It is a book that I’d love to put into the hands of many during this holiday season. It would make a great gift.

If this article has been a blessing to you please share it. And may God make you a blessing during this Christmas season as you exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we see Jesus as He is, glorious and worthy of our deepest loyalties and affections, deserving of our total focus and supreme attention; we will catch fire inwardly and burn with holy fear, and a holy hunger for the Word will grip our hearts, and we will proclaim Him as He is. ~Anonymous~

We celebrate Christ’s birth on Christmas, but for most He is not the center of the rejoicing and celebration that marks this time of year. I think many of us would agree that Christmas has become so commercialized that Christ is hardly noticed, much less celebrated and revered.

Easter would be in the same category. How in the world a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ could’ve ever evolved into an affinity with Easter bunnies and Easter eggs I’ll never know. Such is the tenuous nature of idolatry.

Is it possible for Jesus Christ to be lost at Christmas time and in Christianity in general, the very religion whose name it bears and professes? We know that without a relationship with Christ, just another religion is all that remains. We also know from scripture that someone can profess to know Christ but in works actually deny Him (Titus 1:16). But isn’t it also true that in works many may profess to know Him, but in authentic heart knowledge they do not?

Who knew Jehovah in Old Testament times? That earthly system of Judaism was to point the way to Christ, but in actuality it hid Him from the multitudes who were enmeshed in the works of the law. The external had glossed over the need for the internal. Sin and death reigned in the old order of the Law and all its rituals and ceremonial rules and customs.

Isn’t the same true today? There is an external order in modern Christianity that seems to rule and it is quite evident during the Christmas holidays. Its emphasis on appearance, hype, professionalism, showmanship, production, and commercialism that is prominent, especially during this time of year, tends to hide the real Jesus from us. It easily allows us to deceive ourselves into thinking that somehow God is pleased with all this while Christ is glossed over.

Even many of our contemporary churches with their Madison Avenue tactics have become echo chambers for the latest trends in pop psychology, marketing, politics, entertainment, and entrepreneurial leadership while the piercing revelation of Christ and His simple demands are often overlooked or packaged in a way to make Him palatable to the masses.

We have become all too enamored with our own glory in the kingdoms that we are building, at times totally unaware of receiving that invisible kingdom “that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:2).

Judaism with all its forms, rituals, and framework began its removal 2,000 years ago and was replaced with a spiritual, heavenly standard established in the New Covenant. And now in this end time marks once again the removal of all that is external to bring us to a forcing point, and it is this:

After all is said and done, how much of the Christ do you really have? Not what you do, not what you’ve built, not what you have, not all the shopping and gift giving and receiving done at Christmas time, not even the noble activities which constitute your Christian life, but how much of the Christ Himself have you got?

This Christmas series contains modified excerpts from my book, The Real Jesus. It is a book that I’d love to put into the hands of many during this holiday season. It would make a great gift.

If this article has been a blessing to you please share it. And may God make you a blessing during this Christmas season as you exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost said the following words though the late Kenneth E. Hagin years ago to the church world. They still apply today. Whosoever will, let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying.

“Don’t draw back. The time is near, the time is at hand. No longer can you wait; no longer can you procrastinate. No longer can you say, Yeah, in another day I’ll consecrate. In a later day, I’ll wait on the Lord more. In another day, I will spend more time with Him. In another day, I’ll put my flesh under. No longer. Don’t draw back and don’t pull back.

The Spirit of the Lord pleads with you. Come forward, more forward. Answer the call you hear in your heart. Respond unto the Spirit of God. It is not bad. It is good. The price that would be paid in the flesh is nothing compared to the glory which shall be revealed. It is not bad. Do not dread it. Do not draw back from it. It is a lie. It’s a deception that has held you back. It’s a lie. It’s a deception that has caused you to draw back. Go on in. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Oh the treasures of the things He has laid up for you. The things that your heart is hungry for. Nothing else will satisfy your soul. Nothing else will give you the answer in your heart. Nothing else will satisfy what you seek. Nothing.

Oh, push in. Respond unto the Spirit of God. Just lay those other things aside. Humble the pride and fall before Him and wait upon Him. And as you do, your soul will blossom. Your spirit will spring forth. Yea, you will be a greater blessing unto your spouse. You’ll be a greater blessing unto your family because you will bloom forth. And you won’t be restricted like before. And you won’t be vexed like before. And you won’t be hindered like before.

Yea, you’ve done some things for them (your family). You’ve drawn back and you said it was for them. But you have not been a blessing to them in that the full blessing of the Lord was not upon thee. But if you shall press in, though it might seem to cost that price in the beginning, it might seem like it costs you. It might seem like it costs them. Yea, but that’s the only way to get to the things that they desire and the things that you desire and the things that are needed.

Yea, the things that must be in this hour, it cannot be delayed. It cannot be delayed. It must be now. Now, now is the time. So heed the call of the Spirit’s cry in your heart. Don’t say, “I’ll do it by and by.” But the time is now. Do not dread or fear. It is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Don’t think it’s too high a price. It’s nothing in comparison to the light and the glory that shall be revealed. Draw nigh unto Him. He shall draw nigh unto thee. Seek His face. He shall reveal Himself unto thee even in a greater way. And you shall rise up and you shall be enabled to be a far greater blessing.

And your latter end shall exceed and it shall overflow and it shall be abundant in blessing and glory and grace. And the evil one that thought to deter you and thought to lie to you and keep you from it, you shall look at him and you shall say, “Ha, ha, ha, ha… Your plan did not work. Ha, ha, ha, ha… It did not succeed. Ha, ha, ha, ha… I did not believe it. Ha, ha, ha, ha… I obeyed… Ha, ha, ha, ha… I ran my course. Ha, ha, ha, ha… I finished my job. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I have accomplished His will and with His glory I am filled. His grace, mercy and glory is with me day by day.”

And those things that once held you, those things that for years, years, and years deceived you and held you out; you shall look at them from that higher place. And they shall seem nothing to thee. They shall seem small and despised in your eyes. You shall look upon them in dismay and you shall say, “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.” You shall see far, ha, ha, ha, ha… And you shall know well, and you shall move sure, and shaken shall be hell. And their power shall be confused for His authority you’ve used.”

And that which they greatly feared (hell’s demons) shall have happened. For they feared, they feared that the revelation of truth would come into the earth. They feared that it would come through the heavenly host that would withstand it. They feared that someone would stand. They feared that someone would seek. They feared that some would penetrate into that realm.

When the revelation comes, the truth doth set the captives free. And that which they have greatly feared, it shall even come to pass. It’ll come to pass. God shall reveal His truth unto His people. Yea, we’ve rejoiced in the light. And we’ve seen a little bit. And we moved, but oh, there’s so much more. There’s so much more. And the enemy would have us just revel in what we see and what we know and not push and penetrate to hold fast to receive more. But it shall not be for a glimpse we do see. And we shall not be satisfied until the truth in our hearts abides. We shall not draw back and we shall not fear until we have all that God would give year by year…increasing glory to glory, light to light. Not doing it in the flesh, but by the good faith fight.

And His plan shall be accomplished and His ways shall be straight. And then it shall be ready. He shall come. He’ll not be late. And His people shall have done His bidding and His people shall have heard His voice. And His Spirit shall have reaped the harvest through the church and His people shall rejoice. He calleth thee higher. Continue to look down on lowly things on the ground, but look up and see what He has reserved for thee. And by faith, let your heart reach out.

His Spirit lifts you up. Your heart has craved to know him. You shall know what your mind has hungered to know. You shall do what you were created to do.” THE END

NOTE: Our books and articles are forerunners to the move of God and personal holiness. The fire of God and the fear of God is attached to them. If you feel like this article is valuable, please use the social media buttons below to share it. Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival that this ministry carries. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help?

It’s really simple. Lauren Daigle was attempting to live in peace with all men without pursuing holiness. She is to be commended for seeking to reach out with love to her audience and show hosts, but with so much pressure to conform she fell short of presenting clear truth.

“Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14- AMPC).

Here are the arguments Christians are making on Lauren’s behalf:

Stop being a hypocrite and get the plank out of your own eye.

Stop identifying her sin and identify your own of not loving the poor, the widows, and the orphans.

Stop condemning her because you’ve never been in her shoes.

Stop treating your brothers and sisters like this.

We are not called to identify people’s sin but to be salt and light.

What we are doing is rebuking one another in the face of the world. That is exactly what the devil wants. because he knows that the world will only know we are disciples of Jesus by our love for one another.

“By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]” (Jn. 13:35 – AMPC).

We shouldn’t be settling our differences in front of the whole world in this manner. The voice of reason must prevail during such controversy. And besides, if indeed Lauren Daigle is our sister and she has sinned, she needs to be spoken to privately about her behavior by someone mature who knows her.

The other problem is when the majority of Christians are saying these things it gives room for deception to spread in the church and in society by lowering God’s moral standards. Issues like this are to be dealt with in house or in the Church amongst ourselves (read 1 Cor. 5 when Paul encouraged the Corinthians to judge the man who was committing incest).

THE COMBINATION OF TRUTH AND LOVE

Christians are divided over Lauren Daigle’s words and actions. Some are calling for love. Others are calling for truth. What we need to see and understand is that both are right. Our constant squabbling and rhetoric is useless and unproductive. As I said, it divides us and makes us look foolish to the world.

Love spoken in truth is the combination of wisdom that we need. Compassion blended with conviction is the most effective way to present the gospel. Mercy and might will make things right.

Lauren Daigle fell short of finding this combination so she lied. Yes, it is shameful, cowardly, and grievous, but could you have done more? Considering the limelight, the platform, and the large audience she was speaking to…considering the pressure she was under to want to say the right thing and not be misunderstood or misinterpreted, are you sure you could’ve done better? Do you even know the terms of the agreement she probably had to sign to even be interviewed?

THE BIGGER ISSUE

This incident, however, speaks to a larger and much deeper problem within the Church today. Not many pastors are educating and equipping their people to always be ready to give a defense of the hope that is within them. Now watch this: we are to do this “with meekness and fear” (1 Pt. 3:15). One translation says “with gentleness and reverence”.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” (1 Pt. 3:15).

What if Lauren Daigle was so prayed up and filled with God that she began to weep as she told her audience of the dangers of sin including homosexuality? Do you think many more people in the world would be touched in a godly positive way? Do you think Christians would be bickering so much over this interview and what she said or didn’t say?

Much of the time combining love and truth has to do with our approach, our gestures, and disposition. The stronger the truth and the harder the message, the more broken the vessel needs to be that its spoken through. Excessive zeal for truth without love shining through a broken vessel is abrasive. It’s like fingernails scratching a chalkboard.

What is emanating from us when we speak? The bigger issue is not so much our words, but what spirit is transmitted through our words? That’s a big part of what it means to sanctify the Lord in our hearts.

And this is what the American Church needs to learn to do. More to come…

NOTE: Our books and articles are forerunners to the move of God and personal holiness. The fire of God and the fear of God is attached to them. If you feel like this article is valuable, please use the social media buttons below to share it. Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival that this ministry carries. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help?

This is a recorded prophecy I gave in 2017 whose principles are timeless.

The day is here, the hour is now when My people shall worship Me in Spirit and in truth.

For the day is here and the hour is now when those who yield to My Spirit and resist the lusts and the desires of this world and of their flesh shall increase. They shall increase in grace, they shall increase in power, they shall increase in effectiveness.

Those that yield to Me in this hour shall make it easier to yield to Me in the next hour and the next day and the next hour and the next day. Those that have learned to submit themselves to Me and yield to Me shall make it easier and easier and easier to resist all that’s not of Me, to resist all that’s contrary to Me, and all that is opposed to My will.

Oh, but for those who continue to yield to the flesh, for those who continue to yield to the lusts of the flesh, and the love of this world, it shall become ever more difficult, and ever more rigid to submit to Me.

WHICH WAY WILL YOU CHOOSE?

So which way do you choose? Do you choose the world? Will you choose the darkness and the lust and love of the world, or will you choose Me and My life and My power and My freedom? For judgment has come, for does not My word say that judgment begins in the house of God? Does not My word admonish you that you ought to judge yourself that you would not be judged? And so the day has come for more severe judgment.

On your part, judge yourselves, examine yourselves, but I have peered from heaven even this hour and have beheld your good order. And I have beheld the high esteem that many of you have for My Spirit and for My ways and for My power. And for those who have been faithful, there shall indeed be a recompense, for the reckoning has come, for I’ve chosen to add and even to multiply to some of you who’ve been faithful to what I’ve given you.

And as the little boy brought Me his lunch and all that he had, even now I admonish you to bring Me your lunch and the little that you think you have. And I will take that little and begin to increase it and add to it and multiply it.

If you will begin to step out even more in faith, if you will begin to trust Me even more by faith; and if you will contend with heaven for all that belongs to you and all that is yours and all that is promised, I will be moving. I will be moving on and I will be moving strong. For those who contend for My move they shall see it. For those who contend for revival this day, those that contend for the harvest in this day, those that care about what I care about, those who care for the things of My kingdom and the things that concern My church, upon you shall come the blessing that makes rich and adds no sorrow. You and your household, and your children and children’s children shall come under My influence and My blessing.

Oh, will you contend with Me, and contend with all of those even here among the cloud of witnesses? Will you contend in prayer? And will you contend for what is yet to come? The greater, the greater, yes, the greater! Set your heart for the greater—the greater glory, the greater power, the greater miracles, even the unusual that you have not yet seen and that I desire to bring and that I desire to manifest. For I have not hid these things from you, I have not kept these things from you, for I desire to manifest them for all to view.

(Tongues….)

Let Me, your Lord and your Lover, impregnate you with these things. Let Me, your Lord and your Lover, impregnate you with My Spirit of prayer and my Spirit of supplication. Let Me, your Lord and your Lover, impregnate you so that you may give birth, so that you may deliver that which has already been delivered, but has yet to me made manifest—even the restoration of all things that I’ve promised, even the latter glory that I promised and said would be greater than the former. Who will extend their faith for the greater? Who will contend and labor in prayer for the greater?

(Tongues…)

And what’s this I see? Those who do indeed submit to Me and to My will and to My plan, and submit to My Spirit and to My ways, there shall come a great, great joy and a great satisfaction and even dancing and rejoicing. For My Spirit will take you on the wings of your submission and on the wings of your faith and shall lift you up into another realm where you will dance and delight in the things that they dance and delight in up here in this place.

And the things that seem so hard shall no more be hard; and the things that seem so difficult and rigid shall no more be difficult and rigid; and shall no more be a struggle. Oh, there will still be tests and trials that come to all who live down here, but those tests and trials will no longer affect you as they have in recent years.

Those tests and trials will come to you and hit you, but they will bounce off you. They will not affect you as they have affected you before. For I’m going to add to you now what you had and then much more. And this much more that I give you will cause you to stand and sustain you, even in the most severe trials. It will push you like a wind would push you on ahead, and you’ll be glad for My grace at work.

You’ll be glad that you went with Me, you’ll be glad that you submitted to Me, you’ll be glad that you surrendered all to Me. In that day, you’ll stand as an overcomer, victorious over all, and you’ll give Me praise forevermore.

NOTE: Our books and articles are forerunners to the move of God and personal holiness. The fire of God and the fear of God is attached to them. If you feel like this article is valuable, please use the social media buttons below to share it. Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival that this ministry carries. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help?

We are living in perilous times. The greatest of the perils may be the failure of the Church to teach sound doctrine and stand in the whole counsel of God. The second greatest failure as a result of the first is giving heed to seducing spirits and the false prophetic that fills the vacuum churches and preachers have left for not preaching the baptism and the great work of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a recent quote by Mario Murillo:

“Today we are swimming in more false teaching, false prophecy and false Christianity than ever before. All across the internet ministries dabble in new age hybrids of Christian faith, exotic extremes, drunkenness and even perversion. Turns out, the church is the other swamp that needs draining.”

Deception is everywhere.

A TRAGIC ENDING

I’d like to share another story that will serve as one more example of a deceived people, who due to not hearing the whole counsel of God had become comfortable in their sinful lifestyle. This true account does not end well and serves to show the tragic consequences of the failure to preach the real gospel.

Years ago I took a Bible school group of 10 students to a church in a large city in America. God led me to preach a very strong message on repentance. As I was giving the altar call people began to come forward. Before I could instruct them, however, the pastor stepped in and brought the entire service to a halt. He accused me of being hard and defended himself and his people, saying that they were all just as saved as I or anyone else was. He then asked me to come to his office and further reprimanded me for my message. The Lord told me to keep my mouth shut and not say anything. This pastor then cancelled the rest of the meetings we were to have in his church, and also called all the other churches in the area that we were scheduled to minister in and convinced the pastors of those churches to cancel the remainder of our meetings as well.

Within a day or two of that particular meeting I received a vision from the Lord to explain what had happened in that church. In the vision he showed me a large snake all coiled up on top of a mound of sand. Then he showed me cocking my right arm back and firing a rock that hit him right between the eyes. Suddenly that snake uncoiled, raised up his ugly head, and hissed loudly while shaking violently and scattering sand everywhere. His secure stronghold had been threatened. The Lord showed me that there were serious sin issues in that church beginning with the pastor himself, and the message I preached shook and unsettled everything.

Sometime later a brother whom we found favor with from this hosting church wrote me at my request to let me know what transpired in that church over the next several years. Within two years the children’s pastor was charged with child molestation. Think of the damage done to those children. Then the pastor’s daughter, a married woman, was caught having an affair with her boss. Her husband died a couple of years later. This adulteress woman has a beautiful daughter who loves Jesus, but to this day she enjoys no relationship with her. This is the rotten fruit of sin.

That’s not all, though. A few years later the host pastor, who was responsible for virtually kicking us out of town and canceling all our meetings, suddenly fell dead of a massive heart attack on a Sunday morning right before a service. Another pastor, who had cancelled our meetings because the host pastor encouraged him to, was also caught in adultery and lost his church. It turns out this other pastor only cancelled our meetings because the host pastor was the biggest financial contributor of his television ministry.

All these casualties happened because people were made to feel comfortable in their sins; because no one preached the confrontational aspects of the gospel. Judgment caught up with people in this church because they were not willing to judge themselves. Think about that. And think about their eternal fate.

PREACH THE REAL GOSPEL AND THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD

Evil and wickedness are actually strengthened when preachers fail to stand in the counsel of the Lord and speak His words.

“They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none returns from his wickedness…But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings” (Jer. 23: 14, 22).

Somehow people think it is mean-spirited and even condemning to preach the cross and a confrontational gospel that deals with sin and worldliness and calls people to repentance, when actually it is the mercy of God and His saving grace to do so.

The real life examples I listed above are a direct result of a failure to preach the real gospel and to warn people of impending judgment and the consequences of sin. Sadly, there are multitudes in hell today because they were lied to or deceived and didn’t hear the truth of the gospel. They heard another version that never told them to repent and turn from their sins.

Ministers will be held accountable for not preaching the full counsel of God. God hates deception because it eventually destroys people, brings judgment upon them, and is eternally fatal. Notice again these extremely strong words from the Amplified version of the Bible and the very heavy indictment given to those who preach another gospel:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)! As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)” (Gal 1:8-9 Amp)!

Do we really believe that such a horrific curse pronounced on false preachers of a false gospel is in the Bible? Does this really mean what it says? Whenever something is repeated in the same context of Scripture we better pay very close attention to it and understand God’s heart in the matter. His anger and severity with all those who preach another gospel is glaringly evident here.

Why is this most damning terminology used to devote and doom men to destruction and eternal punishment? I’ll tell you why: Because a false gospel deceives and damns souls. It insults the precious blood of Christ and the agony and sacrifice He made for the sin of the world. It takes away the glory from the redemptive work of Jesus. It stains and contaminates the glorious bride of Christ. And in this context, it threatened to cause these young Galatian converts to depart from Christ and the real faith and return to the Law.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” Mat 18:6).

“Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27).

I don’t want the blood of sinners on my hands because of a failure to preach the real Biblical gospel. Paul preached in order to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Col 1:28). May we do the same and save our necks and those who hear us.

Our books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God, and the return of the Lord. They also combat the departure from the faith and the turning away from the truth we are seeing in our day. The Real Gospel, The Real Jesus,The Real Salvation, and The Real Spirit Of Revival are especially strategic in trumping the many falsehoods spreading in the modern day Church. If any of our books or articles on this blog are a blessing and encouragement to you please use the social media buttons below to share them.

Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival that this ministry carries. Again, if this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help?

“If people are living in sin let’s just teach them how to cope. Let’s tell them how good God is and how much He loves them no matter how they live or what they’ve done. If they have an affinity for sinful pleasures then let’s not offend them by making mention of that. If they abhor self-denial then let’s not talk about that either. Let’s just love them without putting any demands or requirements on them. If people want to be entertained then let’s entertain them. Then our message will be even more appealing to them. Let’s meet everyone where they’re at. We’ll use short, non-confronting sermons and humorous skits and dramas in a friendly way to spark their interest. Gradually they will come around, and God’s love will change them.”

This “new” mind-set has spawned a “new” gospel that is flourishing. Mega churches are being grown from this gospel in virtually every major city in America and other nations as well. Pastors are the CEO’s of these churches that are being managed like corporations. Deceitful workers are transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ who glory in their flesh, their growth, their numbers, and their influence, while deceiving so many others. These men boast of their new gospel and methods of reaching people while daring to criticize the old-fashioned gospel as being out of date and out of style and not meeting today’s needs.

The new preachers of this new gospel preach love, but it’s a love that never rebukes, corrects, or trains. They mention the name of Jesus, but it’s another Jesus that they have formed in their own image according to the godless pop culture around them. They talk about a loving heavenly Father, but know nothing of God being an All Consuming Fire. While emphasizing the goodness of God they completely avoid warnings of His severity (Rom 11:22).

If a man is ambitious, has strong leadership skills, a warming charismatic personality, and he knows how to employ the right formula and new methods, he can grow a church almost overnight, especially by preaching a non-confronting, non-convicting gospel and giving people what their itching ears want to hear. At the core of these new preachers’ ambition, however, is an insatiable desire for an honored reputation and an unsanctified drive for quick growth and quick results that would give them greater power and influence.

Men find great fulfillment in significance so any hook with the bait of power and success dangling from it is an easy temptation. Yet we must realize that some of the greatest failures by human standards are God’s greatest successes. God’s measuring gauge and standard of success is so different than man’s.

SUCCESS IN MAN’S EYES OR GOD’S EYES?

Noah would be the classic example of a great failure today. His message and ministry spanned 120 years, but produced no converts outside of his own family. He was an excellent carpenter and ship builder, but as a preacher he failed and didn’t get the job done. No numbers, no following, and no influence. The gospel he preached and the methods he used produced nothing. But the Bible speaks of him in lofty terms calling him a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5), obedient (Gen 6:22, 7:5), and perfect (blameless, having integrity).

“This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” (Gen 6:9)

“Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” (Gen 7:1)

What would you rather have written on your tombstone – the accolades of men that were lies, or the testimony of God that remains forever true? What do you want your epitaph to say? Do you want to be honored by earth or by heaven? How do you want to be remembered?

Where did we get the idea that if the size of churches and ministries are not numerically large, do not grow fast, or do not grow at all, and do not meet man’s approval they are automatically counted as failures? From whence comes this persuasion?

By using the right formula and Madison Avenue tactics almost anyone can draw a crowd and build a church today. Add to that, an entertainment, socially-adapted, fun-based “gospel” message and people will come. Then word will spread and more people will come.

Here’s an example I heard the late David Wilkerson share years ago: During one Sunday night gathering in a seeker-friendly church where thousands attended, the pastor got up and said: “This is a fun night, a David Letterman night.” Then the youth pastor came out and did a monologue as David Letterman. He showed 10 of the most boring things teenagers do during preaching. Three of the ten were throwing spitballs, yawning, and picking their noses. The people in attendance went wild with laughter and great applause. As the church service was closing the pastor shamelessly announced, “We’re not here to offend anyone, but to make church comfortable for everybody.”

How many people do you think would remain in that church if the pastor changed his philosophy and suddenly began preaching a strong anti-sin, anti-worldliness, cross-bearing, Jesus exalting repentance message? I’ll tell you exactly what would happen. It would cause a church split. Some would be offended and leave. Others would be convicted and repent. But what would we rather have: 1000 false converts or 100 true ones?

The way you win people is the way you keep them. If you win them with entertainment you’re going to have to entertain them to keep them. If you win them with a soft gospel you’re going to have to continue to feed them a soft gospel to keep them. Falsehood, half-truths, and compromise will beget more of the same. A defective gospel produces defective converts.

I heard a television preacher say that in one mega church he spoke at he discovered that 60 couples were living together out of wedlock. Not one of them was legally married. The reason given: None of them thought it was wrong. How shocking! Here’s the question I have: What kind of message were the pastors of that church preaching? Obviously a very defective one. The fruit of a false gospel is false converts. Faith without works is always dead.

The Church today is full of false converts who have never been searched out and convicted of their sins. They come to church meetings, they sing church songs, they talk the church language, and hear church sermons, but they live like the world. Their lifestyles are in contradiction to the Word of God. One man said, “I know I shouldn’t be shacking up with my girlfriend, but I believe in Jesus and He knows my heart.” The Bible says that the demons also believe and tremble (Jam 2:19). In other words, the demons believe and fear God more than those like this man who say they believe, but have no works or corresponding lifestyle to prove their faith (that is the context of Jam 2:14-18).

When you leave certain components of the cross out of the gospel you open a large door for the sinner and the half-hearted seeker to feel comfortable in their sins and in their worldly lifestyle. And when that becomes the norm or status quo in a church, deception spreads like a cancer. A false or an incomplete gospel establishes an atmosphere of deception. People are being errantly taught that all you need to do to be saved is to acknowledge your belief in Jesus, pray a little prayer, and you’re in. Nothing is ever said before or after salvation about true heart-repentance, surrendering your life – losing it to gain it, following Jesus in whole-hearted obedience, and loving Him above all others.

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